How to Market Your Music Using Only Twitter And Other Surprising Marketing Techniques Like Playing Poker

More or less, you’ve might have heard of Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls (who also happens to be the wife of Neil Gaiman) and her use of unusual marketing techniques to garner a solid fan base and you can learn a thing or two from crowd funding (you can check her out at Ted Talks). She also claims that Twitter is her main marketing arsenal. Imagine getting around $19,000 in ten hours without any major record label support. And she got this with the help of a web designer guy and her assistant selling shirts online, doing a webcast auction and organizing a gig using only Twitter. Not all of you may like her unabashed approach and her “selling-out” (aren’t we all skeptics?) but one thing’s for sure, in order for your band to pull this off, you will need a large following on Twitter.

Getting a loyal and steady following also means having a lot of followers too. Normally, you would tweet more often, use hashtags incessantly and follow similar bands or artists and people who share the same interests as well. But did you know that using alternative yet subtle techniques can bring about your desired number of followers on the Twitterverse? Joining all the forums that you can find as long as you are genuinely interested in that group can be most beneficial because you are also tapping into an umbrella market. For example, when you join poker forums, not only are you touching base with players and enthusiasts from all over the world as there are over 5 million active players online according to PartyPoker, but you are also gathering a brand new fan base. Not only that, there are musicians who are also professional poker players like Anthrax’ Scott Ian who uses their poker connections and vice versa to promote his passion for music and the game. It’s also very easy to access these apps because you can play and participate in these forums while you’re on tour using your android phone or tablet.

When you look closely at your profile page on Twitter, it also helps that you upload a nice profile picture, a cool background and a short but concise bio too. One highly effective and subtle way to get more followers is by mentioning your location. When you mention your location, local businesses, venues/gig places, the local news or any community based account will more likely to follow you but also make sure to mention them once in a while in your tweets. You can also mention big brands like guitar gear or pedals and reply to their tweets too. Finally, ever wonder how some people are always online tweeting? In reality, they’re not and by using crafty apps like Buffer, you can time your tweets and curate your content in a scheduled manner.